Tennis Classes in Augusta: Take Lessons with Top Instructors on Your Local Courts

Tennis in Augusta, GA: Courts, Coaches, Classes & the Local Scene

Augusta is famous for golf, but its municipal tennis facility has twice been judged the best of its kind in the country. The Newman Tennis Center runs 18 hard courts, 14 of them lighted, is operated by the Augusta Recreation, Parks and Facilities Department, and is open to the public through modest hourly court fees. It was named the USTA Large Public Facility of the Year in both 1986 and 1996, all 18 courts were resurfaced in a $125,000 renovation completed in October 2014, and it hosts 12 USTA-sanctioned tournaments a year alongside high school, collegiate and club activity. It is also the home of Augusta University's programme. The center is named for Lewis A. “Pop” Newman, mayor of Augusta from 1973 to 1981, who coordinated its development in his final term. Around it, regional court directories map 131 courts across the Augusta area, spread across Richmond and Columbia counties and over the river into North Augusta. Nationally, participation hit a record 27.3 million players in 2025, up 54% since 2019.

Major tennis courts in Augusta, GA

• Newman Tennis Center — 3103 Wrightsboro Rd, Augusta, GA 30909. Eighteen acrylic hard courts with 14 lighted, operated by Augusta Recreation and Parks and open to the public on hourly court fees. Lessons for adults and juniors, league play, and 12 USTA-sanctioned tournaments annually. Home courts for Augusta University. Built with federal Land and Water Conservation Fund grant assistance and matching City funds; run by Augusta Tennis Center Inc. from opening until 1988, then leased to Augusta College, with operational control passing to the city's parks department in July 1997.
• Diamond Lakes Tennis Center — 102 Diamond Lakes Way, Hephzibah, GA 30815. Public courts inside the Diamond Lakes Regional Park complex in south Richmond County, off Windsor Springs Road. Phone (706) 772-4913.
• Warren Road Community Center — 300 Warren Rd, Augusta, GA 30907. Public courts about half a mile down Warren Road off Washington Road, serving the west Augusta and Martinez side of the metro.
• Patriots Park — Columbia Road, Evans, GA 30809. Columbia County's main park courts, immediately on the left as you enter the park — a regular host site for area tournaments.
• Lakeside High School — 533 Blue Ridge Dr, Evans, GA 30809. School courts used for tournament overflow and open for community play outside team hours.
• Chester Avenue courts — 1850 Chester Ave, Augusta, GA 30906. Public courts with instruction available. Phone (706) 796-5046.
• North Augusta Community Center — 495 Brookside Dr, North Augusta, SC 29841. Across the Savannah River in South Carolina but a genuine part of the local playing radius, and a regular tournament venue for the two-state Augusta scene.
• Augusta University — the Jaguars' tennis programme is based at Newman Tennis Center rather than on campus, which concentrates competitive tennis at one public address — useful if you want to watch good tennis or hit alongside better players.
• Planned investment worth tracking: in February 2020 Newman Tennis Center appeared on Augusta's preliminary SPLOST 8 candidate project list with a requested allocation of $7.5 million, covering court renovation and resurfacing, new lighting, parking improvements, eight new clay courts, landscaping, HVAC upgrades, locker-room renovation, a new elevator and shelter replacements. That was a candidate request rather than a confirmed build, so it is worth checking current status — but eight public clay courts would materially change tennis in this city.

Augusta's access model is a single strong municipal center plus a scattering of county and school courts across two states. Newman's hourly fee structure is the important detail: it is a paid facility rather than a free one, but at municipal rates, which buys you 14 lighted courts, staff, instruction and a tournament calendar that a free park cannot support. That is why the local competitive scene — juniors, high school, college, USTA leagues — runs almost entirely through one address. Beneath it, Diamond Lakes, Warren Road, Patriots Park and the school courts cover casual and neighborhood play, and because the metro straddles the Savannah River, North Augusta's community center is a normal part of the rotation rather than an out-of-state trip. What Augusta lacks is indoor tennis and, at present, clay — both of which the proposed SPLOST project would address. The practical consequence for instruction is that tennis lessons in Augusta are available at a genuinely high standard at Newman, or from independent coaches meeting players at county and school courts closer to home. Group tennis classes in Augusta run year-round at Newman Tennis Center.

The Augusta climate allows tennis in every month of the year, and its rainfall pattern runs opposite to Florida's. The city averages 218 to 222 sunny days and about an inch of snow annually — snow falls on roughly one day a year — with January highs of 54 to 57°F and lows near 38°F, which makes winter afternoons entirely playable and is why the tournament calendar runs through the cool months. Summer is the obstacle: July averages a high of 92 to 93°F, the temperature range across the year runs from about 38°F to 92°F, and July also carries the most rainy days of any month at over 18. August is the wettest month at 5.4 inches. Total annual precipitation runs 43 to 46 inches across roughly 99 days. The useful local detail is that autumn is the driest season here — November averages only 2.4 to 2.9 inches across 8.5 rainy days, and May carries the lowest relative humidity of the year at under 60%. That makes spring and autumn the local peak for tennis, in contrast to Florida markets where autumn is the wettest stretch. Practically, summer play moves to mornings or to Newman's 14 lighted courts in the evening. Getting around is straightforward: the metro is built around I-20 and I-520 (the Bobby Jones Expressway), Newman sits on Wrightsboro Road in west Augusta with parking, and the county courts are all within 20 minutes.

Augusta's tennis position is solid and could become notably better. The strengths are a twice-nationally-recognised municipal facility with real programming depth, a university programme based at that facility, 12 sanctioned tournaments a year including the long-running Georgia State Junior Closed — itself a two-time Georgia Tennis Association Junior Tournament of the Year — and a two-state metro that widens the competitive pool. The weakness is age and surface variety: Newman opened in the early 1980s, and while the 2014 resurfacing helped, the facility's own improvement wish list runs to $7.5 million. Eight clay courts, if built, would give Augusta something no other public facility in the region offers and would suit an ageing local player base, since clay is materially easier on joints. Pickleball is expanding across Georgia park systems and, with a single dominant tennis center, allocation decisions at Newman will matter more than striping at neighborhood parks. With national participation up 54% since 2019 and a record 14.5 million Americans playing 10 or more times a year, Augusta has the programming and the climate; what it needs is the capital project it has already put on paper.

Finding people to play with is part of what keeps the Augusta tennis scene active between lessons. Players can use PlayYourCourt's Augusta tennis-partner community to look for singles, doubles, practice sessions, or matches based on skill level, preferred distance, availability, and match format.

Best time of year for lessons in Augusta

Spring and fall are prime outdoor months in Augusta. In the hottest summer weeks, book early-morning or evening lessons to beat the heat — and grab a standing weekly slot before league seasons start, when court time gets competitive.